It rumbled again, and a large bright beam of light hit the multi-part blue shield. It withstood it but received minor damage. The power swords flared cutting the air with a roar, and two twin blows fell exactly on the flying creature. There was a terrifying crash and a sound of breaking glass.
***
After the first strike, the shield fell by twenty percent, and Yar was pushed back five yards or so. It was the first time he had felt such power. The clan leader had to use his acceleration to the maximum. The crystalc was damaged, and it doubted itself for a second. Yar took full advantage of this moment, and he hit the parasite with all his might, moving away from another furious crystalc.
Yar hesitated while working with his power swords because of meeting such a bizarre opponent. However, glory to the System, the swords coped and Gloomy Punisher shouted excitedly about a huge amount of the purest energy. The other three crystalcs, were much weaker than the first. Yar spent a lot time chasing them around the columns in a strong desire to catch at least one of the crystalcs. Yar set traps, attempted to drive them into the Oblivion Cage, and even tried to catch them with a spell, but he didn’t succeed. Meanwhile, these malicious substances started to coordinate better with each other. Yar didn’t have time for evasion, and his shield cracked again, straining and anxious as the power readings decreased. The clan leader sped up his attacks and destroyed the crystalcs at last. Coming out of the acceleration, he felt unbearable fatigue. The heavy weights seemed to hang on his arms and legs.
“Girls, look! This is Yar Row Dark, and he has a magnificent level! I told you he looked strange,” Redhead Ria whispered quietly in a conspiratorial way. “So, girls, be silent like a fish. Let’s go…”
Yar experienced a really pleasant feeling. These charming beauties ran up to him and talked both kindly and admiringly. They wiped him down with a wet towel, massaged his head and hands, and even combed his hair. Yar thought that they were about to start a pedicure, but fortunately, the girls helped him stand.
“Sir, what was that?” Redhead Ria asked.
“Ah.” Yar waved weakly, “These are the parasites who have long broken the energy state of the ‘Wasp Castle’. I had to intervene.”
Finally, Ogriz Jr. reappeared and saw a terrible violation of the statute: the employees were behaving in a free form, and they talked to-” He stopped short; his throat was dry.
“Oh, System, who are they talking to?” In his opinion, they should have knelt with their heads down in front of such an esteemed person.
Ogriz Jr. bent low and muttered complete nonsense. “Sir, I offer you my apologies. I will now teach these scum how to behave in the presence of the highest! I will dismiss them all today.”
The girls turned pale as Yar did likewise. The clan leader quickly got angry.
“You, freak. You don’t talk to your subordinates in such a tone!” Yar spoke furiously.
The portaler came from the back and said quietly, “Master, he sees your original frame. Ogris is a famous embezzler and rogue.”
“Thank you, friend,” Yar said without turning around, confusingly noting that he had true data in his status bar.
Most likely, the energy strokes of the crystalc forms have returned my native stats to me. Yar corrected his stats quickly and returned to the conversation.
“Apologize!” he roared, addressing the assistant manager.
Ogriz huddled, hesitated, but then apologized, although it was somehow halfway.
Yar could no longer listen to this verbiage and said confidently, “You’re fired. You must return all stolen valuables within three days. Don’t try to hide or talk about what you saw here, otherwise, you will disappear forever. Now… go away.”
Yar waved his hand, sending this unpleasant man to the ledge on the lighthouse using his portal.
Chapter 60. Magic Сrystals
A slow sigh, a slight delay, and a long, seemingly endless exhale … It helped a little.
Hey, hey! Come on! There’s no need to worry. I can’t change anything now. Yar tried to cheer himself up.
He couldn’t help thinking about the fail in hiding his hit bar and feeling upset. Damn it ! Yaroslav had spent a huge amount of energy just for nothing.
Eh, heh, heh! Many people saw my real information ... It’s just Murphy’s Law. The light elves seem to have already known about my living in the capital or will at least know soon.
“Well, it would be better for me to prepare for the worst,” Yar said softly. “We need to increase the defense of the castle urgently—especially my tower.”
He had decided to stay in a separate tower in advance.
After the fight, Yar was strictly forbidden from getting up. He didn’t object, having a rest after taking a remedial block. He needed to calm down after the battle. Yar decided to analyze that battle to identify any errors and miscalculations in order to try to avoid repeating them in the future. Vey the Shamrock used to advise him the same.
Yar smiled. He had started to get used to his multi-level intellect, though he rarely used it. Every time when he realized this useful peculiarity, he was surprised, and then he came back to his usual way of pondering again. It happened now. One part of his mind was analyzing the fight, drawing conclusions from the battle with parasites, while the other part was admiring the attractive and charming creatures that surrounded him. They were collecting the remains of the crystalcs and flirting with Yar unobtrusively. He felt confused while figuring out how his multi-level intellect worked.
Heck! I failed once again!
The girls brought him the remains of the defeated crystalc parasites. A few of them were rather large, but the other looked like junk: as if they were made of simple glass, polished by the sea.
In addition to this incomprehensible crystalline trash lined up on the rack, Redhead Ria reported, “Sir, we have collected all the smallest fragments. The hotel is now pristinely clean, all guests have been evacuated, and there were no complaints. We explained to the guests that there will be preventive work on the modernization of our sewage works for about four hours.”
Yar praised Ria’s professional skills.
“Well done. Here are the bonuses,” Yar said, showing two thumbs-ups and then depositing ten thousand gold into each hotel employees’ account. The receptionists rejoiced so loudly that he thought that the previous fight was much quieter than his own employees’ joyful dances.
It had long been known that huge positive surprises happened very rarely. Most often, a person had to confront negative situations. However, it turned out that the defeated crystalcs in the hotel’s lobby brought an unexpected additional profit. Although, it did not open immediately as well as Aladdin’s cave.
Yar was in a relaxed state. All his troubles seemed to be over, but he felt upset and so hesitated. He felt remorse because of his destruction of these unknown creatures. Eva could not find any references to these crystalcs in the system. There was no information at all. Unfortunately, only pale druze covered with a dirty patina remained from these energy parasites after the battle was complete. Yar tried to determine what it was. However, the system behaved unpredictably. After a seven seconds delay, a message popped up:
Crystalc ‘Kapersonik’
There was no additional information. Odd... A simple stick would have more information ... Nonsense.
Yar tried again and was stunned. He kept repeating the request several times; he even activated his atomic scanning. The result was the same. Yar did not receive any further information. Moreover, now even the primary information had disappeared. As if this ugly crap, lying before his eyes at arm’s length, didn’t even exist.
It’s incredible!
The clan leader took a medium-sized crystalc. It was about sixteen inches long and five across.
“Damn, it is hot. It’s warmer than the human body!” Yar was surprised.
The longer the crystalc was in his hand, the more incredible it became, changing its structure and color. Twenty seconds later it looke
d amazing. The crystalc was black and impenetrable, as if a scarlet heart was beating inside it. A red light flashed and slowly faded out, before the flashes were replaced by a rhythmic darkness.
It pulses in accordance with my heart, Yar understood.
His silent assistants seemed to all be crazy — Eva, Lyan and even the stern Gloomy Punisher asked Yar with a tearful childish intonation and spontaneity, interrupting each other. They turned out to need this crystalc miracle.
Yar read the system message and laughed nervously.
Crystalc amorph ‘Kapsersonik’
Power 9,000 MW
Strengthening of the crystal structures basic parameters (randomly)
Strengthening of the biostructures basic parameters (randomly)
Transition to the energy structure (randomly)
Energy absorption (randomly)
Energy accumulation (randomly)
Energy manipulation (randomly)
Mental manipulation (randomly)
Energy communication (random)
Crystal communication (random)
Activate the transition to the energy structure
Yes/no
Yar stood up from his comfortable chair. He didn’t feel relaxed anymore, and his hair almost stood on end.
“Can I take a chance? Damn that boring security. It’s interesting. Eh! Okay!”
“Activate!” Yar chose, followed by, “Yes.”
“Wow!” He shuddered but didn’t drop the crystal, although it stung mercilessly.
There was no longer a beautiful crystal in his hand but rather a black cloud of mercury was raging with short lightning across his open palm. Rather, it was like a big black blot that tried to look ruthless and toxic. However, Yar didn’t feel a threat at all. He looked through his magical vision, and nothing changed. It was the same blot made of mercury, bristling with lightning like a sea urchin.
Everything changed within a short time. Yar’s source suddenly began to increase its speed and went beyond his body. It seemed that the core of the source was eagerly stretching towards this energetic clot.
Wires and knots on of Yar’s right hand’s fingers swelled and changed in color, looking like white-hot metal. Yar looked at his other hand which was the same. When he put the clot into his left hand, the same effect occurred with his left palm.
Not paying attention to anything, Yar touched the protuberances and saw the unity of energies. They intertwined with an intricate pattern, and the amorphous crystal disappeared.
He looked through his atomic vision again and was stunned with fear. Yar didn’t expect his entire magical structure to be reconstructed with such lightning speed, and so strikingly too. The increased power was understandable and, one might say, expected. However, Yar was stunned by the fact that both of his sources looked like white-hot cores.
This is incredible!
Yar swallowed nervously and tried to speed up the work of his central source, as he had done a thousand times before. He almost yelled, restraining himself at the last moment. His vision darkened, and for a few more minutes he saw only spots. Something similar had happened to Yar in the Dark World. He had burned his eyes then , but this time he only lost his sight for a short while.
Yar didn’t expect to see such an intense working source. He could see his source’s rhythm before. The clan leader could follow the protuberances, but now the source’s work was so terribly powerful that it was almost like the pulsation of working jet nozzles.
Attention!
Ability has been discovered (Energetic Essence)
Minimum transition energy is 12,000 MW
Transition speed — 0.001 min
Time spent in energy form (Yar Row Dark 97 kg - 0, 10 min)
* Addition (the enhancement of characteristics is likely at the first energetic initiation)
Damn it ! Yar picked up the largest druse—consisting of three large crystals and four very small ones—and did the same manipulation, commanding, “Display the current time in energy form!”
Time spent in energy form (Yar Row Dark 231 pounds - 0, 53 min)
Chapter 61. Energy Failure
W ow, I have about a minute! Great! Yar was going to deal with his assistants’ requests, but he didn’t succeed. Suddenly, the clan leader felt something alarming quickly approaching him. It was as if someone had poured a cistern of fluid anxiety, and it filled the entire space in seconds.
Maybe there were other parasites there, he supposed.
Yar was wrong this time. While he was busy with the crystals, something negative was happening in the surrounding space; Yar realized it unexpectedly fast. He carefully scanned the nearest space, but there was nothing dangerous there.
Damn it ! His feelings of anxiety continued to intensify; it was clear that this problem was connected with Wasp Castle.
Despite the fact that the ancient building had been just freed from its curse, it turned out that something else had been hidden there.
“There will be no rest for me,” Yar noted. One of his assistants intervened to confirm his thoughts.
“Master, something beyond the energy field of the castle is happening,” Grim Punisher reported in an alarming voice.
“This day seems to be full of different types of energy. Can you try to figure out what it is? I have no idea.”
“Yes ...” Grim Punisher stammered and then shouted, “Danger! Wasp Castle launched all recovery processes at the same time. Its energy base is no longer able to cope with the increased strain!”
Yar immediately realized that there might be an explosion comparable to the horror of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“Eva, I need information urgently: have there been any ancient castle explosions in the history of the Belt of the Worlds?” Yar asked.
Eva responded quickly, “Master, there were two annihilations of castles. The first one is ‘Jollier’ on the planet Sato Novo, and the second one is ‘Stronghold’ on the planet Rico III. Master, I know that you won’t back down, and so I strongly advise you to move the point of your rebirth as far from here as possible.”
“Leave the castle!” Yar yelled. “Annihilation is possible!”
Yar immediately followed Eva’s advice and rushed to the roof of a familiar boathouse in the port, moving his point of rebirth there. Yar quickly returned to the castle when he saw the open doors of the main entrance and the fleeing people. Yar looked around, there was almost no one remaining.
“Well, Aire, don’t hide behind the column. I appreciate your courage, but you need to leave the castle. The sooner the better! This is an order.”
Aire stepped out from behind the column, waved his hands in contrition, nodded, and left through the portal.
“That’s nice. Now, I must get down to business.”
Yar guessed where the main energy source of the castle was located; he had long assumed that these huge buildings, these remnants of an ancient civilization, had been built in similar architectural solutions. Yar’s expectations were correct, and the main energy hub was located in the same place as the one at Ryiri, but its appearance was depressing and even a little frightening.
The time is running out, Yar understood, noticing the increasing vibration of the main source.
He gave up the idea of transforming into an energy form and transferring. It would be too risky and too energy-intensive. Therefore, Yar grabbed all the crystals and rushed to the central distribution portal. Wasp Castle was similar to the Ryiri Palace of the Capture. As he had expected, the source was located in the central part of the castle, as well as a long and narrow passage leading to the energy center. Yar ran along the passage.
At this moment, Eva’s voice sounded like mockery, “Master, the system has rewarded you for ‘The Elven Gold’ achievement!”
Now is not the right time! Yar, breathing heavily, barked back, “Postpone!”
The doors leading to the source opened as soon as he put his hand to the wall of the castle.
Fortunately, Yar man
aged to roll away in time because he was running at full speed. Something banged; there was a wave of heat that felt as if it came from a blast furnace, and the opposite wall instantly heated to red. Yar knew right away that he had no more than several seconds, but he couldn’t approach the source, despite his energy shield. There were only two solutions.
The first option was to escape right now.
The second was to try to use one or several crystals ‘Kapersonik’, escape, and then watch the result of a bold experiment from a safe distance.
Breathless, he generously chose a pair of large crystals and transferred them to the energy form. Then he slowed down a little and, having calmed down, he prepared carefully. Exhaling noisily, Yar quickened his motions, and in one continuous motion, he jumped to the very edge of the doors, threw his black ‘gift’ into this fiery ‘mouth’ and left the castle through the portal. Lyan kept shouting, warning of mortal danger the whole time.
“Damn it!” Yar said angrily, gritting his teeth in pain.
Aire, who was in the shed, looked on with horror at Yar’s charred hand, suggesting, “Master, maybe you should go for rebirth?”
Lyan suggested another way as he reported in a disgruntled voice, “Master, the regeneration process has been launched, and it will take forty-eight hours, twelve minutes, thirty-four seconds to fully recover.”
“I’ll survive, don’t worry” Yar answered to the portaler, squinting in pain. “Rebirth isn’t the way out. I’ll be fine in forty-eight hours. Moreover, I’m going to speed up the process.”
The clan leader used three healing blocks, one by one. He became better instantly, and his injured hand no longer resembled a charred little firebrand.
“In the meantime, help me to bandage my hand.” Yar pulled out a pair of stylish Louis Vuitton shawls from his vast storehouse.
Aire was impressed with the items’ stats and helped Yar to bandage his hand and secure it to his chest, not forgetting to ask, “Master, what happened in the castle?”
“I don’t know, to be honest. I suppose that the castle launched many recovery programs simultaneously. The main source failed, the energy balance went to hell, and the core of the main source flew apart. Therefore, annihilation was about to occur. Can you imagine such a disaster in the center of the capital?”
Dark Legacy Page 34
